Here’s How Black Christians Voted In Alabama

The accused pedophile used his faith as a selling point to voters.

During the Alabama U.S. Senate race, Roy Moore‘s most solid base was evangelicals, who voted for Moore at an astounding 80 percent. This is despite being an accused pedophile. However, when people discuss the Christian vote, they often leave out an important factor — race. According to The Washington Post, Black Christians voted for Doug Jones at 95 percent, which is on par with the overall Black vote in Alabama (96 percent).

Black evangelicals not voting for Moore proves these Christians do not have blind faith and a shift from what we saw in the early 2000s. In 2004, President Bush got a surprising 11 percent of the Black vote, partly because he appealed to Black Christians. Republicans often reached out to Black Christians to block the advancements of LGBT people. Thankfully, times have changed. For example, The New York Times featured 24-year-old divinity student Devon Crawford, who said Moore “sanctifies the truth-making power of White men” and was “really just a masquerade for White supremacy.” He advocated for Doug Jones to win.

The Washington Post also reports that Black Christians do not fall for hot button topics like LGBT rights and abortion, “Race generally trumps religion in Alabama overall as a dividing line among voters — and that is certainly true among African American voters.”

Clearly, evangelicals standing by Moore is not about their faith, otherwise Black Christians would be on his side as well. White evangelicals supporting Moore was pure, racist tribalism.